Maple Leaf Foods plans to build a new pork processing plant in Winnipeg to replace its present old plant.
The company says the decision by its Winnipeg workers to swallow a bitter pill of massive wage and benefit cuts is the reason it decided to keep the plant in the city.
“There is no question, we need a new processed meats facility in Western Canada,” said Maple Leaf Foods vice-president Pat Jones in a news release. “The existing plant is not economical nor viable in the long term.”
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While the management of Maple Leaf wants to build a new plant in Winnipeg, it will not be able to commit to the project until its board of directors approves it.
Many workers are angry with the deal their union made with the company, but 74 percent voted in favor of it as the only way to save some jobs, say union officials.
“This is not something we like, but in reality, it’s making the best of a very difficult situation,” said Bernard Christophe, president of United Food and Commercial Workers, Local 832.
“The alternative was total closure of the Winnipeg plant and the loss of all 800 jobs.”
Wages plunge from a base rate of $16.77 per hour now to $9.25 per hour after the new contract comes into effect in April. Skilled workers will receive higher wages.
Pension benefits are also dropping.
Each worker will receive a minimum $5,000 signing bonus, with employees who have worked there for more than five years receiving more.
Christophe said the new agreement commits Maple Leaf to keep about 400 workers employed.
The slaughter line will be closed once Maple Leaf’s Brandon plant opens in 1999, but the processing line will remain.
The Winnipeg workers’ agreement to accept lower wages follows a pattern seen throughout the Canadian hog slaughter and processing industry.
About a year ago Maple Leaf Foods provoked a strike in its large plants in Burlington, Ont., and Edmonton by demanding wage rollbacks. Workers at its North Battleford, Sask., and Hamilton, Ont., plants were locked out after their contracts expired.
The Edmonton plant was permanently closed by Maple Leaf because of the strike, and the Burlington workers eventually accepted the company’s rollback demands and went back to work for lower wages.
Soon after, a rival meat packer, Fletcher’s Fine Foods, demanded workers at its Red Deer, Alta., slaughter plant accept a similar wage rollback. Workers went on strike, but eventually accepted the company’s offer.
Then workers at Saskatoon’s Intercontinental Packers, now called Mitchell’s Gourmet Foods, agreed to owner Fred Mitchell’s request that they agree to substantially lower wages for all new employees in order to keep present employees working at the same wage scales.
